Chez Siffblog,
ESF encackled me this evening. I found this piece hilarious and interesting.
Beat
Alas, I am so busy, Dear Internet, that I must confess that while I think of you all the time, it is only now that I can spare a moment to write. Of course, I have nothing much to say, my time filled with the empty clock-calories of modernity.
Ever wonder how that value-priced gasoline brand can price a dime under everyone else? They only allow ATM cards and tack on 45 cents, which doesn’t sound too bad until you find that the pump you’re using has poor flow and no pump-lock, so you’re forced to squeeze it with all your carpal-tunnel might until it turns off and won’t restart at 5 gallons, for a nice 9 cent tack-on to the stated price of X minus 10 cents per gallon.
Speaking of which, my relatively well-maintained (pay no mind to the fender there, kiddo, move along now why doncha) 1993 Toyota Camry gives fine, 30-some-miles to the gallon driving. That’s been just about a fill up every other week since I started driving to work. Now that a) we’re in the new location, well to the north of my old apartment and b) still moving and therefore driving back and forth betwixt job, apartment, and house several times a day, today was the first time i ever had to try to fill the car up due to an empty tank the day after I had filled the car up due to an empty tank.
For some reason, my interim internet solution at the new location disallows https: connections, a distinct inconvenience during the holiday season.
No tree yet, but tomorrow, I think, we’ll get one.
The aprons of the new property appear to consist of pure Mississippi gumbo, cleverly disguised as oil-stained gravel admixed with cedar needles.
Simon is still in deep hiding, having crawled inside an unsealed wall and then commenced to howling. He was coaxed out.
No first fire in the fireplace yet. But this night I did succeed in crafting a Martini. Some sort of lounging device must assuredly await.
Laundry
ITEM:
Last night was the first we spent in the new home. Of the cats, Chloe’s adjusting well, Simon not so much. I’m with Simon, to date. I keep myself sane by reading Bart’s blog. What ever storms I’m dealing with in my heart and in my mind, there’s no possible grounds for me to express even the slightest grumpiness, which of course doesn’t stop me at all.
ITEM:
In today’s Seattle Times, Eric Scigliano rips the not-quite-new main building for the Seattle Public Library a new one, bemoaning the fact that no-one bitchslapped the place on opening. Begging to differ on this point, I’d like to note that my status as a critic of the SPL includes the building as well as predates it. Alas, I could not find the piece online using the paper’s search tools. It appears in the paper’s “‘Focus” section, which does not appear in the navigation that I could see.
ITEM:
NYT runs love letter to Rocketboom, features still frame from episode featuring PF’s poppa. Coincidence, or conspiracy? You decide. Also, what’s up with the pf.org redirect to the Progressive Policy Institute website?
Stoney Mansion
As I started work this morning I was alerted via email that some of the live recordings from the recent all-Indiana convocation of independent musicians of the past three generations known as Musical Family Tree Fest had been posted to the Musical Family Tree site.
Browsing the site I happily discovered that my old pal John Terrill‘s mid-nineties four-track wonder “Frowny Frown” has been made available in full, a treat for me as I had never had a chance to sample this incarnation of John’s sonic madness.
Of special interest and appreciation for me were a reworked, county-tinged version of my favorite of John’s songs, Angeline, the new to me and quite amusing Chuch Bus Blues, the agreeably downbeat Blind, and the deliciously psychedelic Stoney Mansions.
UPDATE:
Terrill appears to have also contributed the Rosebloods records, Dragon in the Field and Under the Apple Tree, which saves me the trouble of digitizing them myself, by God! Huzzah!
Let her press
This MeFi thread on letterpress printing may be of interest to some.
Wrist
Huh, an RSS reading feature referred to as ‘clips’ appeared in my Gmail today, interesting.
IP
Oh, and I finally got my IP assignments from my ISP. Whoop de doo.
Imaginary blog entry here
You would not believe it if I told you, and I can’t tell you about it here. Suffice to say that today is, of course, Pearl Harbor Day, and torpedoing is involved. No one is actually dying and no specific future is threatened, but my abiding faith in a universe of cruel hopelessness has been affirmed today.
Also the Seattle Smoking Ban goes into effect tomorrow. Hit the Comet, people.
Router routing
After discussions with Qwest, my ISP, and some research, I have an RMA for the router that Qwest billed me for, the only problem being that within the past 30 days I WAS NEVER SENT A ROUTER BY QWEST. The router I was billed for is nonexistent. I was sent a router several months ago, which I paid for, and I’m inclined to return it. But alas, less than a week ago, I trashed the shipping material.
My ISP assures me that a) the router they installed is generating rental income for them and b) no router they would install would be billed to me by Qwest, as they are separate operations.
My vanishing phone number has been explained, as well. It seems that my ISP, unbidden and unapproved, dropped a whole new line to the house in order to establish ADSL, instead of regular DSL. In so doing they thoughtfully moved the existing handsets onto the new circuit, presumably allowing them to bill me for the “service,” in addition to whatever other charges are to be levied. A swift call to them identified that balance as a mere $123 and some petty coppers.
Ah, the sweet, clean air of the free market, where service is sublime and price competition flattens cash outflow. The hell with that! Nationalize ’em! Slow and ineffective service that costs little and is subject to my will as a voter beats slow and ineffective service that costs a shitload and is beyond recourse every single day of this century or any other! Citizens, why do you tolerate this sort of crap?